FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
HAPPY ENDINGS
A troubled thirty-something living in Los Angeles, Mamie (Lisa Kudrow) is burdened with a 20-year-old secret she represses by escaping to Javier (Bobby Cannavale), a Mexican
masseur who fulfills her sexual fantasies. She’s stunned
when a wannabe filmmaker, knowing about her past,
blackmails her. Meanwhile, her gay stepbrother Charley (Steve Coogan) thinks his lover Gil’s best friend, a
lesbian
named Pam (Laura Dern), is lying about the paternity of her baby. He’s
convinced her son is Gil’s. And a rich teen musician working at Charley’s restaurant, Otis (Jason Ritter, son of the late John
Ritter), is
in denial about his sexuality. His band’s new singer, the spunky and sultry Jude
(Maggie Gyllenhaal), more than makes herself at home with Otis and his widower father (Tom
Arnold). A drifter looking for a free ride, Jude moves in, seducing them both.
There’s a lot going on in Happy Endings - a film that at first glance
may seem disjointed, but in the end, flows. Ultimately, this dark comedy is
about sex and secrets, which is why it grabs and keeps viewers’
attention for over two hours. Throughout, director Don Roos
plays with the audience, from the opening as we listen to thumping and
panting while watching a black screen (the sounds are of Lisa Kudrow running, not of a “happy
ending”) to the introduction of Javier (Roos lets us see
his body and listen to his husky voice for minutes before showing his
face.)
Unlike Bounce and The Opposite of Sex, Happy Endings, Roos’ third
feature film, offers rich and intriguing characters we really care
about. Bounce is schmaltzy, The Opposite of Sex is rough and raunchy, but
Happy Endings combines the two - it’s both ingratiatingly sentimental and racy. And often during Happy Endings viewers read text on a split screen. The
background information is useful and often funny, but sometimes
distracting as the eyes dart back and forth from lengthy paragraphs to
scenes in progress.
Deborah Lynn Blumberg
|